The Ajax Match (3)
Unlike the swift counterattack that had earned us the opening goal near the end of the first half, we surrendered the equalizer with almost insulting ease.
It took them all of two minutes.
While the attack worked the ball forward, the defense was supposed to reorganize the line—but the attackers lost possession far sooner than expected. Jong Ajax's players tore through our unsettled back line and found the net.
Damn it… I can't see an angle.
Barely two minutes later we kicked off again, circulating the ball through midfield as we hunted for an opening. But the moment anyone took a touch, Jong Ajax players swarmed in, clawing for possession—so even with numbers in the middle, simply keeping the ball was a struggle.
As a result, Jeong Woojun and I—both wingers—dropped a little deeper than usual, playing more like wide midfielders as we helped work the ball around.
"Woojun!"
Lee Wonjun, our defensive midfielder, tried to feed Jeong Woojun—and lost it to Jong Ajax's holding midfielder in the process. Ajax players sprinted forward at once. The man who'd won the ball chose Viktor Jensen, their attacking midfielder.
Viktor Jensen. In my previous life, he had been the most successful of anyone currently on this Jong Ajax roster.
Dani Sneijder had been an Ajax one-club man, lifting countless league titles—but never a Champions League trophy. The best he'd managed was a Europa League win.
Steve Jensen, who transferred to Manchester United around the same time as Viktor, carved out a solid role as a squad player. He rotated in whenever the starters needed rest, and thanks in part to that depth, United lifted the Big Ears one more time.
But Viktor Jensen was different.
The moment he moved to Liverpool he locked down a starting spot, rescued a club stuck in the doldrums, and put up thirteen goals and seven assists in his first season.
His gift wasn't simply scoring or creating. His true talent was commanding the players around him on the pitch. In that previous life, he'd bent even a thirty-year-old veteran like Cody Wilson—who played alongside Salah—to his will, and turned Liverpool back into a title-contending side.
Viktor Jensen drove the ball forward at pace. We had plenty of bodies in midfield, but the center-backs hadn't pushed up. Our center-back Ju Wonwoo produced a clean tackle that nudged the ball slightly to the right.
"It's not over yet!"
Unfortunately, the ball dropped right at the feet of Jong Ajax's defensive midfielder, who had been charging in beside him. Ju Wonwoo immediately recovered his position. Viktor hesitated for a beat after losing the ball, then saw his teammate had possession and surged forward again.
In our half now: four defenders and two holding midfielders—six of us. Against them: three Ajax attackers, Viktor the attacking midfielder, and the defensive midfielder supporting from behind—also six.
Even numbers. And Korea was in trouble.
The Ajax holding midfielder who'd kept pushing up slipped a pass out to the left winger drifting wide, then stopped outside the penalty box. One-on-one: Ajax's left winger against our right-back, Baek Namgi. The winger jinked the ball forward and whipped in a cross.
"Cross incoming!"
Center-backs Jeong Woojun and Lee Seungmin timed their leaps to the flight of the ball. So did Ajax's towering striker, Dani Sneijder. Already shorter than Dani, our center-backs were outmatched on the jump as well, leaving them badly overmatched in the air.
Thud—!
The ball met Dani's forehead cleanly. In the same instant he twisted his head and redirected the trajectory—a header that smashed off the crossbar and out, denying him the goal.
"Watch out! This guy jumps insanely high!"
"Counter right away—ugh."
Goalkeeper Han Seungwoo wanted to launch a counter from the goal kick, but Ajax's players had already recovered their shape. Instead of going long, he played a short pass to center-back Ju Wonwoo.
Ju Wonwoo tried to find defensive midfielder Lee Jeongmin—
Thwack!
Dani Sneijder, who still hadn't dropped back, stuck out a foot and cut the ball out. Ju Wonwoo charged at him to make amends, but Dani turned him beautifully and curled a left-footed shot.
The striking posture was off-balance—and that actually worked in Dani's favor. A clean strike would have skimmed past the post; the imperfect contact meant the ball didn't curl properly, and it kissed the keeper's fingertips before burying itself in the top-left corner.
For me—locked in a war of nerves with their right-back, coiled and ready to explode forward at any second—it was an intensely frustrating situation.
"See? You lot were never going to beat us."
Ajax's right-back, who'd been needling me in English the whole match, said.
"You couldn't even keep up with me, and that's how you conceded."
"So what? We're winning now, aren't we?"
Ajax's right-back shrugged and curled the corner of his mouth up. For a second my vision nearly went white—then I reined myself back in.
It's fine… compared to my pro days, this is nothing…
In my previous life, back when I was playing in the K League, the manager's incompetence, the squad's slump, and the results freefall had brought furious fans pouring out to block the team bus. Good thing I didn't have Instagram—the DMs my teammates showed me were pure venom. Of course I still got abuse. Fans who wanted to curse me out, knowing I wasn't on social media, just came to the stadium and did it to my face.
Either way, I wasn't about to let this guy keep running his mouth.
Might as well tear him to pieces while I'm at it.
I dropped back across the halfway line into our half.
"Ah… and there it is. They've conceded again… barely ten minutes since the last goal."
"You simply cannot make that kind of mistake. Ju Wonwoo was trying to spring a quick counter and got stripped. No matter how impatient you get, you have to keep your eyes on the opponent and play the situation properly."
The commentators rewound Ju Wonwoo's error in slow motion and unloaded on him as the score flipped.
Once the lead was gone, the production crew fell quiet. The female staff who'd practically poured their coffee across the table when Seong Ian scored now covered their faces with both hands, barely managing to look at the pitch. The male staff who'd been clapping instead of shouting simply went back to their work in silence.
"Haa… so they got overturned after all."
"Yeah…"
Eunhye and Go Yunseong, seated in their chairs, watched the field and spoke quietly to each other.
The MCs had no real role while the players were on the pitch. At best they were cheerleaders masquerading as coaches. They'd been brought on mainly to pull in viewers in the first place. Even though Go Yunseong held a coaching license, he had no practical experience, so handing him the team would have been a stretch—and he knew it.
But Eunhye had even less to do. Go Yunseong could at least offer the players some feedback. She couldn't. She'd been cast for two reasons only: a pretty face and a love of football, first; boosting the players' morale, second. She understood her role. Beyond sitting on the bench and cheering, there was nothing she could do.
Eunhye checked her wristwatch.
…Already twenty minutes into the second half.
Korea still had the ball, but they weren't creating anything resembling a chance.
"Huu…"
She was still fretting over what to say to the kids if they lost their first match when—
"Kang Minsang! He sees Seong Ian bursting into the open space on the left! The lofted pass!"
"Yes—this is the way… ah, but Ajax's right-back—! Wait—!! He's through! What individual skill!"
Ajax's right-back closed on Seong Ian as he received the ball, but Ian took a short first touch with his back to the defender. He feinted a pass behind him, then spun through a McGeady turn that left the right-back completely wrong-footed.
"And Seong Ian—the cross! Oh!!!"
"Kang Seungwook with the diving header!! Straight into the net!"
Ian turned the defender, drove forward, and whipped in the cross. Kang Seungwook, surging into the box from behind, rose high and met the ball cleanly with his forehead. Ajax's keeper scrambled across to meet the ball coming straight at him, but botched the punch and let it through for the goal.
"Waaaaah!!"
The production crew erupted at the equalizer, and Eunhye could finally breathe again.
In the thirty-fifth minute of the second half, Korea's manager Kim Taesik pulled Seong Ian and Kang Seungwook—both of whom had scored—and brought on two defenders to lock the game down. Jong Ajax's manager Hendrik Jansen went the other way, removing a defender and a midfielder for attackers in a bold push, but Korea refused to concede again.
The final score was 2–2. Korea had scraped out a draw no one had seen coming.